I use Windows 2000. It has none of the problems of XP. Win 2k is THE most stable version of the OS, and it is why it is used by industry 8:1 over XP. Plus it runs better in older machines.
I have 12 serial ports, through the use of a Cyclom 8YO adapter plus the 2 com ports on the motherboard. I do not even need to use my parallel port although I could. I also have 4 USB 1.1 ports.
